Let’s talk Quarantine… yay or nay

[GOSKN5]

Curious to see who uses a QT tank (and who doesn’t) and what is your preferred method of QT?

 

Do you QT corals and inverts too?

 

I do QT fish and have a preferred process, but have not QT corals and inverts.. curious to hear others input. Thanks!

 

 

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[cpeguero]

Following along to see what others do.

I QT everything. I’m fortunate to have the space to do it. I either buy from a source that I trust for QT (Reef Escape locally or TSM online), or I do modified TTM as described by HumbleFish. Then a short observational QT (usually a couple of weeks). If all is good, into the tank.

Corals and inverts get 76 day fallow QT. Haven’t gotten into enough sps to see any of the flatworms etc yet. I usually do a Bayer dip followed by QT.

Had some mistakes that made me think I may have gotten ich in my system, but I think I managed to dodge that bullet


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[ReefdUp]

I quarantine everything, and I've been doing so for about 14 years for fish and corals. I just started QTing inverts, once I learned about the life cycle of various fish flukes that use snails as an intermediary host... However, this is difficult, as snails can shed the flukes for months. Thankfully, I was running fallow at the time.

 

Fish get the TTM, and corals get a two-stage 30d each quarantine. (Unfortunately, I had a tank crash once... gambled... and threw everything into my main tank. Now my main tank has aiptasia, and it drives me insane.) 

 

If anyone needs horror stories of the pests I've found over the years, I'm happy to scare you into QTing! In all seriousness though, if you can't QT, at least perform dips on your coral and fish. 

 

One way to get a lot of benefits of QT without doing so is to make a "QT coral rack" in your tank. New corals go there for observation. Dip them daily for the first week, every other day for the second week, every third day for the third week, and then once a week for three more weeks. This breaks the life cycle of AEFW and some other pests. And since they are somewhat segregated, it helps keep the crawlies from easily escaping before they are dipped (e.g., Montipora-eating nudibranchs).

 

 

[nburg]

I buy fish from reef escape or direct from biota marine and add them to the DT right away (via acclimation box for a bit) and pray they didn’t let anything thru. I have no space for QTing due to smaller condo apartment. At my old place, I did QT fish for 6 weeks. Maybe in the future I will start again if I move to a larger home.

For coral, I dip everything and set it on a mag rack and observe. again, no space to QT. If it’s acros, I either buy from sources that are trustworthy and describe their QT procedures or from locals with established tanks and are well known. 
 

Thankfully I’m at a point where I won’t be adding much of anything right now. 

[phlynamjax]

I QT everything regardless of the source. I usually run them through cupramine and prazi. My display tank is heavily stocked. So I have to be very careful with new livestocks that I am adding. I take my time when it comes to quarantine. I currently have 2 regals and moorish idol in two separate QT tank. I got regal angel on 5/11/2022 and moorish idol on 4/10/2022. They won’t be ready for another 4 weeks.

[DaJMasta]

I haven't, but I don't really have the space and I have been lucky so far.  I do use safety stop on any incoming fish, which could help somewhat, and I've caught a fish to run it through the tank transfer method for ich a couple of times - but I think both times likely wasn't actually ich, and nothing ever shown on any tankmates.

I've recently gotten a couple of standard meds (though not copper), and if I can manage to make the space, I may.  I've just used buckets for hospital tanks so far, and since my fish are fairly small, that's been enough.  I've got a decent sized UV, but never used it with the intention of trying to manage parasites.


If I find a new space and am getting a bigger tank, I'd setup a QT/hospital tank (maybe a second for coral) and be much more diligent about prophylactic treatment (especially when risking many, many more creatures).  I recognize that a lot of my success so far with fish has been luck rather than comprehensive treatment options, and aside from the counter space for an appropriate sized tank and the time required, the other investment to properly quarantine is surprisingly modest, especially when compared to the price of livestock.  I would not recommend my current lax method to others, though maybe the Safety Stop dips and my ability to observe them carefully does more than nothing.